Flights to Madrid

Fly to Madrid from over half a dozen UK airports any day of the week and you can be ordering up churros and chocolate on Plaza Mayor in less than three hours.

Flight times from the UK to Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD) typically clock in somewhere between two and three hours.

From London, direct flights depart from Heathrow (LHR), Gatwick (LGW), Stansted (STN), Luton (LTN) and London City (LCY) all year round. Not one takes more than two hours and 20 minutes and you have a pick of airlines, including easyJet, Ryanair, British Airways and Iberia.

Finding cheap flights to Madrid from London is about as easy as spotting Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ in the Reina Sofía Museum (in other words, impossible to miss!)

Madrid is good to go whenever you are. This is, after all, a city that doesn’t do downtime; its rooftop swimming pools are just as busy in summer as the illuminated Gran Via shopping street come Christmas.

Madrid also has dozens of museums and important art collections, vast cinematic squares, grand boulevards, monumental architecture and spectacular food. You can’t walk two steps in any district without stumbling upon Michelin-starred restaurants and Bib Gourmand eateries.

All of this and a short flying time make Madrid the perfect romantic weekend getaway. So be impulsive by all means, but book ahead. You’ll be surprised how much cheaper flights to Madrid work out with a little forward planning.

Madrid is proud of its public transport system and the city’s airport transfers are some of the easiest and fastest in Europe.

Pitch up at arrivals after your flight and a 24-hour express bus service will whisk you into the city centre in just 30 minutes. There are buses every 12 minutes during the day and at 35-minute intervals from midnight to 6am. Bus tickets are affordable and all you have to do is hop aboard, pay the driver and take a seat.

Direct underground and rail links from Madrid Airport to the city centre are fast and frequent too. Alternatively, hire a taxi with confidence in front of the terminal building; airport cabs are regulated and there is a set transfer fare.